Ashgabat, 27 February 2009 – Further empowerment of Turkmen rural women through increasing self-employment opportunities was top on the agenda of the national forum organized by the Women’s Union of Turkmenistan together with UNDP country office within the framework of the joint project “Support to Gender Mainstreaming in Policy Making in Turkmenistan”. The forum titled “Business Opportunities for Rural Women” summed up the progress achieved by the project in piloting new approaches to increase self-employment opportunities for rural women in Dashoguz and Mary provinces of Turkmenistan. The national forum also offered a venue for representatives of government organizations, local government and self-governance bodies, public organizations, UN agencies and project beneficiaries to discuss ways for improving business environment for rural women with a view to sustaining rural development in Turkmenistan. 

Investing in rural development is one of the national priorities of Turkmenistan. In this context, investing in rural women is equally important. “Not only women become creative in organizing their own business, they also transfer their skills and knowledge to others – children, friends, neighbors and the larger society,” said UNDP Resident Representative Richard Young in his opening remarks. This logic underpinned all project activities ranging from business trainings and exhibitions of rural women’s products to awarding micro-grants to boost rural women’s businesses.

"The project demonstrated that there are a lot of opportunities for rural women self-employment in Turkmenistan, as well as great prospects for cooperation between local government bodies, international and public organizations,” noted UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Inita Paulovica presenting the project results.  She said that a total of 6 business trainings for rural women and 2 exhibitions of rural women’s production and crafts were conducted in two pilot provinces of Turkmenistan. Out of 65 rural women, who actively participated in project activities, 2 got procurement orders from the central authorities while 14 successful project participants were awarded mini grants ranging from USD 700 to 2000.

Speaking during the forum, the project beneficiaries acknowledged that the project helped them increase their status and role in families, generate more income and gather greater support from local communities and authorities, to either boost or set up their businesses. “I can now organize my own business, run books, make reports to the tax inspectorate, do marketing, etc. With the mini grant that I received from the project, I bought two sewing machines. The central authorities have already placed an order with me for sewing school uniforms,” said Ogulbibi Akmammedova, a tailor from Sakarchaga district of Mary province.

The forum also offered an opportunity for self-employed rural women to share their experiences and lessons learned from the project. Following the ensuing discussions in groups, the forum participants came up with recommendations aimed at ensuring enabling environment for their businesses. The most salient of them was the need for business support services headquartered in business centers with readily available business development information. Other recommendations included the need for networking and mutual support, new forms of accessible financing, including women’s credit unions and women’s banks. Women also spoke of the need to create enabling legal framework, more business trainings, opportunities for promoting and advertising products and services.

The discussions ended with an agreement that the project presents a viable model for replication and should be scaled up to all rural regions of Turkmenistan with a view to further empowering rural women.

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